Page 40 of Here's to Tomorrow

I glance at the clock once they finally shuffle out of my office. I have about an hour and a half before I have to meet the website guy, so I take the time to text Rae to tell her the good news.

Me: So, Perry? Good dude. He gave us a sweet deal. I can’t repay you enough. Looking forward to Wednesday.

Rae: Me too! ;-)

Suddenly, my phone goes crazy.

Rae: Oh, fuck me!!! I meant :-) I was not implying anything with that winky face! I promise!

Rae: OMG! I didn’t mean anything by the “fuck me” either!!

Rae: Shit! Just ignore all of that and pretend I never texted you back. The next text is going to be my real response.

Rae: Oh, awesome! Can’t wait for Wednesday either. :-)

Rae: Much better.

At this point, I’m laughing so loud and hard that someone bangs on the office door.

“Yo, what’s so funny? We can hear you out here, ya know,” Tucker says, opening my door. Over his shoulder, I see Gaige and Liam, another mechanic and friend, with shit-eating grins on their faces.

I’m still laughing when I hand Tucker my phone so he can read what Rae sent. Probably not the nicest thing I’ve ever done, but that whole exchange was too hilarious not to share. He holds it up for the guys to read along. They all burst into laughter too.

“Nice job on that one, Hudson,” Liam says. “She seems fun.”

“She’s a spitfire, that’s for sure,” I agree.

Before I realize what he’s doing, Tucker types something into my phone.

“Tuck, man!” I snatch the phone out of his hands. “What the fuck did you send?”

Me: ;-)

I laugh. “Okay, that was a good one.”

My phone beeps right away.

“What did she say?” Tucker sounds as excited as me to get a response from her.

I flip the phone up so he can read her text.

Rae: LMAO!!

“You’re welcome,” he says, a satisfied grin on his face.

I shake my head and shove them all out the door. “Go work, assholes.”

* * *

I’m just snagging a table at our designated meeting spot when a shadow falls across the table. I look up, surprised at who I find standing there.

The guy Rae was hanging on last Monday at Clyde’s is standing right in front of me, holding a binder.

Half of me hopes he’s lost and not Perry. The other half is curious as hell how he knows Rae and why they seem so close with one another. Are they exes? Friends? More than friends? She seems into me, so I’m not banking on that, but this unexplainable surge of jealousy rages through me whenever I see the guy, and that’s solely based on the way Rae smiles when she’s around him. I want her to smile atmelike that, not this doof.

“Hey. Hudson, right?” I nod. He takes a seat across from me and sticks his hand out. “I’m Perry.”

I put on my game face and shake his hand.

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